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Uresia:
Incarnations
There are three different versions of the Uresia: Grave
of Heaven
worldbook. In terms of setting-information, all three are mutually
compatible.
Here's a quick rundown for those interested in Uresia
but
puzzled by the whole multiple-incarnations thing:
- Uresia: Grave of Heaven
(2003):
Guardians of Order published the original edition of Uresia
in February of 2003 as a supplement to Big Eyes, Small Mouth 2nd
Edition, the result of long work, delays and development (since
July of 2000). The original worldbook includes stats and
character-creation
information specific to BESM2, and it's a groovy little
digest-sized
worldbook that fits in your coat pocket. This is the edition most
people
are probably familiar with, with the purple-background elf-chick cover.
GoO also made this edition available in electronic form for a while
(beginning in 2004).
- Uresia d20 (2004):
The original book did well enough to justify porting
it to one of
GoO's other game-systems, their hybrid of BESM with
Wizards of the Coasts' “d20” system used for Dungeons &
Dragons. GoO courteously invited me to develop the d20
adaptation, but I'm no d20 scholar (I've GM'ed and played it only a few
times), so I passed on it and just pestered them about the cover,
instead (it ended up with a beautiful cover, by the talented
Niko Geyer,
using character-images based on Ed Northcott's interior work).
Decorated
d20 veteran Ian Sturrock did officer work handling the
system-conversions,
and Uresia d20 is, in terms of content, virtually
identical
to the original, with only the BESM stats replaced. The
only other differences are a few artwork alterations, some of Ian's
extrapolations on how the "character classes" relate to one another,
and one omitted map (a non-critical introduction to the world and the
runic
alphabet used in the page elements). This edition was also available in
PDF form for a time.
- Uresia: Grave of Heaven
(All-Systems
Library Edition, forthcoming): In the spring of 2005, I
approached
Guardians of Order asking about buying all the Uresia
rights.
Mark responded with an offer that suited us both, and on August 31st
the
material came home, as it were, to Cumberland Games. A new, 2nd Edition
of Uresia is currently in production, with new artwork,
rebuilt
maps, expanded world material and so on. The All-Systems Edition is (as
I like to put it) unencumbered by crunch. Like all other All-Systems
titles (including the Uresia supplement, Caravel) the
“Designer's
Cut” edition is 100% setting and gaming resources, taking advantage of
the additional space to provide a few surprises. Uresia will
be a Cumberland Games PDF,
but for those fond of hardcopy, I'll make a POCD version available at Lulu.
Cumberland Games
has been
publishing Uresia material since the 2001 release of the Temphis
Runes and that, along with Uresia
Arcana and Caravel,
form the beginnings of what I hope will be a game line worth revisiting
and campaigning with for years to come. Uresia is a very comfy home for
the kind of fantasy gaming I like to write about, and I'll continue
doing
so for as long as the fan-support remains strong. In addition to Uresia
2nd Edition and Elegy in Ice (another Caravel-scaled
mini-supplement), you can also find new Uresia material here on Blue
Lamp
Road, and in a 2005 charity anthology for the Red Cross (Beyond
The Storm). Better still, the Uresia fan-community produces
some
great stuff that appears here and elsewhere on the web. Future things
you
might see include licensed Uresia titles
from other
publishers (both systemless and using systems of the publisher's
choice),
official conversion documents for popular RPGs (I'll be approaching
several
publishers about this), and an FRPG from Cumberland designed with
Uresia's
style in mind. If odd moods strike me I may spontaneously produce
oddities
like Uresia boardgames (I've got a notion for one …). I am fey and
unpredictable.
Over the next month or three, I'll be updating both Blue Lamp
Road and
the Cumberland website to reflect the central role Cumberland will play
in Uresia's future. Bear with me on this and, if it helps, mentally
insert
little animated “Under Re-Construction” GIFs into the affected web
pages.
See you soon, back on heaven's grave.
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